On The Translator’s Subjectivity-a Case Study Based On The Three Volumes Of Zhang Peiji’s Selected Modern Chinese Essays

Translation, owning a long history, shoulders the task to help people of differentnations for better communication with others. It has made great contributions to theeconomic and cultural development of all nations in the world. But the translator, whois the very undertaker of such a grand activity, has long been treated unrighteously.With the emergence of “cultural turn” in the1970s, an increasing number oftranslation theorists began to attach great importance to translators and brought themto the frontier of translation studies. Being independent thinkers, translators’subjectivity are permeated throughout the translation process: the selection of thesource texts, the choice of translation strategies, the solution to translation problemsand the formation of the final versions. Although there have been abundant studies ontranslators and their subjectivity, yet no systematic research has been observed.Because of this, the author has made an attempt to probe into this issue, aiming toprovide an overall description of the exertion of translator’s subjectivity to facilitatethe understanding of the essence of the translation.As everyone knows, Zhang Peiji, a prestigious Chinese scholar with significantcontribution to the cause of translation, has devoted himself to the translation for morethan fifty years. His three volumes of Selected Modern Chinese Essays are used as atextbook by numerous teachers and learners. However, few books on him arepublished, and even fewer on his subjectivity in essay translation. With this in mind,the author attempts to conduct a research on the translator’s subjectivity by takingZhang Peiji’s Selected Modern Chinese Essays as a case study. The discussion isconducted at both macro and micro levels. The former refers to the factors beyond thetranslation, including the selection of source text, translation purpose and the selectionof translation methods. The latter focuses on the decoding and expression intranslation process including the lexical, syntactical and rhetorical levels. Meanwhile,Professor Zhang includes abundant notes in Selected Modern Chinese Essays fortranslation strategies and cultural background, which is rare in other translators’ practice.Abundant examples in Selected Modern Chinese Essays being provided andanalyzed in the thesis, which is meant to emphasize the significant role played bytranslators in the translation. The author highlights the point of view that a translatorshould give full play to his subjectivity in order to guarantee the translationaccomplishment. It is sincerely hoped that this research will bring new perspectivesand inspiration for studies of the translator’s subjectivity, enrich translation theoriesand contribute to their success in the translation.